The first half of this book is actually not in continuity; it's another origin for the Scarecrow, but Robin's there, and Batman met Scarecrow a few years before Robin. Don't let this fool you, though-- it's very good. Bruce Jones writes a good story, with plenty of creepy turns, and the interplay between Batman and Robin is very fun without being corny. The real star of the story, though, is Mark Sable's angular artwork, which perfectly suits the story, and is well complemented by Lee Loughridge's inimitable colors. A really good Batman tale on the whole.

Two-Face: Year One, on the other hand, contorts to fit into continuity, and is the worse for it. Chapter one tries to stay consistent with the events of The Long Halloween (it's like a prologue, about the beginning of Harvey's descent), but misses the point in the characterization. The second chapter is just dumb... Two-Face runs for office, and I don't really get why or how, it's just implausibly goofy. Two-Face is a tricky villain that I've almost never seen done right: given his reasons for turning "bad," why would he just become another gangster? The whole point of him was that he hated and was scarred by organized crime!

Batman "Year One" Stories: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »

Really this review has to happen in two parts because this is a collection of two different stories (one of which happens to involve 'Two-Face' ... and irony isn't lost on me). The first tale, Bruce Jones' attempt at rewriting the origin of the Scarecrow, doesn't really work at all. The story tries to draw parallels between Batman and Scarecrow (they both wear MASKS! for instance. Really, that's all he had...), creates a mystery about Crane's ancestors, and introduces this bizarre child abuse for Crane that has pretty much never been introduced before. It stays true to Crane's role as an academic, but ew... I think the whole "He killed his grandmother" part was kind of genuis, but using birds to do it? It was just bizarre. And Mark Sable's art made it more bizarre. It really doesn't fit into regular continuity, just because Crane is more of a villain who attacks out of curiosity than some sort of sadistic need. And he's killing people here. Like a crazy person. I didn't hate it, I just really didn't like it, either.

The Two-Face story? Genuis. Sean Murphy delivers a tale that fits into everything we already know- Dent gets his face scarred by acid, had anger issues before, made enemies as a D.A., but it also completely flips it upside down. It introduces a rival D.A. trying to usurp Dent's position who basically engineers all the stuff behind the scenes. It's also implied that Dent starts killing gangsters (and look for a 'cut in half' theme subtly) BEFORE he gets scarred, which to me helps define his character in an entirely new way. The story also stays true to the tradition of "The Long Halloween" and mentions a few times (not to an annoying level) the 'Holiday' killer, which true Batman fans will get a kick out of. Jesus Saiz's art keeps the story on track and visually interesting. It's worth the buy just for this part of the story, which works well as Part 2. ( )